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memesoftheton2023-05-27 11:00 am
thetonmods) wrote in memesoftheton2023-05-27 11:00 am
TDM II
Welcome to the The Ton's second Test Drive Meme!
Applications will OPEN on the 1st of June. Players with characters already in game are also welcome to top-level with them. However, we ask that all TDM-related prompts stay on the TDM post itself.
If you do write a top-level, please make sure to include your character's name and canon in the subject field - regardless of whether your character is already in game or not.
Please note that the Test Drive Meme does not require an invite in order to participate - submitting an application does.
NAVIGATION.
🌿 Arrival • Welcome Drinks • The Greenhouse Effect • Skinny Dipping • Give You Butterflies [NSFW] • That Belongs in A Museum • Jump to Comments 🌿
🌱 Applications • FAQ • Rules • Full Navigation 🌱
I. WELCOME
You don't remember when or where you fell asleep exactly...
Perhaps it's the tickling sensation of a low hanging tree branch brushing against your nose or the feel of the slightly damp grass underneath you that causes you to awaken but when you do you'll find yourself lying amongst a glade of wisteria trees. You're not alone - nymphs of the trees laugh and dance about you, clearly amused at the new arrival. Along with them, your new loyal servant is here on Pheme's bidding. How this servant looks is different to each arrival. Some are saddled with short, stout butlers, others are welcomed by towering, busty maids. Regardless of their appearance, they introduce themselves with a kindness and warmth that is simultaneously reassuring and strangely impossible to resist when they beckon you to follow them from the grove and out into the city of Andovale.
The closest structure within sight is the Palace and its grounds. It is here that the Lady Pheme resides and from here that she rules over the city, your servant explains to you. You have been selected and brought here personally by her. It is she who assigned the servant to guide you through the regency-inspired city that is your new home.
Eventually, they will bring you to your new residence within the outskirts of somewhere called the "Trade Quarter". You are now the resident of a room within one of the many imposing town houses which make up the Grand Crescent. Throughout your stay here the servant will be your own personal butler or maid. This is where all new arrivals will be living for the time being you are told. Your servant will also give you a crash course on life here and the concept of Thumos - the energy or life force that keeps Andovale and all life within it going - including you now that you are here. It's generated through acts of intimacy, whether that be physical or emotional.
Once you have been shown to your room, you are given two things: a network communication device and a letter. The letter reads as follows:
My dearest reader,
Welcome to Andovale.
The delights of our fair city are yours to explore.
I do hope that you make your stay here a most interesting one. I shall be frightfully disappointed if you do not - and we do not want that, do we?
You will hear from me again very soon.
Yours Truly,
Lady Pheme
You are free to wander about and explore the house and its surroundings as you please. It's certainly spacious enough. As well as your own quarters, each of the townhouses of the Grand Crescent have large communal areas, which includes the kitchens (although why you'd like to go there when your servant can fetch any delicacies you'd like for you!), a dining room, a parlour with its own small library, two drawing rooms (somewhere you can go to chill out basically - harp music anyone?) and a generously sized garden.
Strangely, unlike most accurate regency townhouses, there do not appear to be any servant's quarters - perhaps these servants don't need to rest? Or they go somewhere else entirely for that?
Why not introduce yourself to your new housemates? Or enjoy some tea and cakes that have been prepared for you personally by your retainer, which they seem to keep insisting on bringing to you?
II. AN INVITATION
Whether you're brand new to Andovale or a an establishedif a little unwillingresident by now, your assigned maid or butler will track you down. They are not empty-handed and they carry a silver tray, upon which is an envelope with a wax seal bearing the letter "P". Inside the envelope is an invitation. An invitation from your benevolent ruler, Lady Pheme herself.
Each character will receive an invitation identical in wording to the one below:
EVENT AT THE PLEASURE GARDENS
YOUR CHARACTER'S NAME HERE
Is requested to attend an exclusive event at the PLEASURE GARDENS, on 27th of May current.
Admission to the attraction begins at 6 o'clock p. m.
Wear something green for this special occasion.
Lady Pheme
Your servant can help you find something appropriate to wear - or not appropriate, the choice is entirely yours, after all. If you decide to go with their guidance, it is notable that they seem a little less decisive in the sort of outfit you should be wearing for this event - only, as Pheme said, that it should be something green. An evening gathering surely must require formal wear though and they will eventually press upon you the importance of wearing Regency Full Dress for the night ahead.
You may come to regret this.
Note: Even though it's a little different from the norm, this event will still count as a ball and all attendees will get 10 Reputation Points✨, just for showing up and looking respectable. Indulging with the theme and wearing an acceptable green outfit will also gain attendees a further 5 Points✨.
CW: alcohol
JUMP TO TOP • JUMP TO COMMENTS
So, you've received an exclusive invitation to the Pleasure Gardens' latest pop-up attraction from Lady Pheme herself? How exciting! Ordinarily, the Gardens are open to anyone willing to pay the small amount of Thumos required to enter, but tonight it seems that only those brought in from other worlds are permitted access. You're getting an exclusive preview of the attraction, one of the guards at the gates tells you.
One of their colleagues will escort you down the torch flame lit pathways, through the gardens to the centre - the open space where all events like this take place.
Tonight, that open space is not so open. Besides the vast outdoor ballroom floor, in front of you is a giant glass house - basically, a large fancy green house between you and I. These are often found at grand country houses to show off and cultivate exotic, never before seen plants from far off lands. You've been brought here for the unveiling of this attraction. How such a thing could possibly be temporary seems highly improbable, but that's Pheme for you.
Feel free to begin the evening with mingling and dancing as befitting of any ball, but before the night is over you will feel yourself propelled forward to join the queue to get into the "Palm House," almost as if an invisible hand is shoving you forwards. You're even handed an extremely green and theme appropriate alcoholic beverage to consume in the queue while you wait. It's all very civilised.
Oddly, this drink won't get you drunk in the usual way, despite the alcohol content. Instead you will find yourself imbued with a hefty sense of glee and eagerness for adventure. It's all to help ease you into this experience, after all.
You're admitted to the Palm House one at a time - it's fine, you'll see your friends inside! Just as you set foot through the doors, your head is filled with the sound of a woman's voice, soft and beguiling:
"Dearest gentle member of the ton - what happens in the Palm House, stays in the Palm House. You are free tonight."Note: For those that don't drink, there's also an alcohol free version. It looks completely identical to the boozy version.
Whether that drink has got you in the spirit or not, entering the Palm House is worth your while. All of those who enter will instantly receive 20 Reputation Points✨. And in case it wasn't already obvious, on this very special of occasions and the debut of her attraction, Pheme is turning a blind eye to what happens to you all in there. These things need a whole lot of Thumos to run properly and some of you will be doing her a huge favour... you just don't know it yet.
There will be no NPCs present in the Palm House, only your characters. Tonight is an exclusive preview for Pheme's Chosen, after all.
Entering the Palm House is a rather surreal experience to say the least. Sure, it looked pretty grand from the outside, but that's nothing compared to what greets you inside...
You might have been expecting a typical large tropical greenhouse as per any botanical garden visit, if such things exist to you back home. However, this particular green house appears to contain nothing less than a few dozen acres of rain forest. If the word "Tardis" resided in the vocabulary of the Ton's residents then it would surely be applied here. Pheme's out to show off again.
The moment you take a step or two through that door you feel strangely disoriented. Take a few steps more - perhaps you change your mind and decide to head back to the door you just came through. Only when you do, you'll find that the door is no longer there.
There is another door out of here but that involves crossing the length of the exhibit - and as you can now see quite clearly, that is not going to be such an easy task. There are paths to take and to (hopefully) stick to, but they seem to crisscross at every turn you take and go in all different directions. Thick rainforest surrounds you on all sides, its dense foliage extending towards what you can see of the glass ceiling and the night sky beyond that.
Pheme hasn't been quite cruel enough to leave you wandering through the rainforest by moonlight alone. Many of the plants here glow with an unnaturally bright bioluminescence - and there is more. Every now and again during your travels you will see the light of a of lantern darting amongst the trees, accompanied by alluring and lilting female voices, often laughing with delight. They might seem a little familiar to you.
It seems that the tree nymphs (or dryads) from the wisteria grove have sisters and they're making themselves quite at home in the Palm House. If you happen to catch a decent view of one of them, you'll find yourself face to face with quite possibly one of the most beautiful - not to mention scantily clad - women you have ever laid eyes on. They won't stick around long though. Make the mistake of trying to follow one of them and you'll find yourselves off the path and even more lost and disoriented than you were before.
You might be really regretting your choice of dress right about now - even if you are camouflaged with all of the greenery.Note: If your character does not manage to find the exit (or one of the magic wreaths mentioned below) then they will only remain trapped in the Palm House until dawn. After that time period they will themselves slipping into a deep slumber, only to awaken right back in their cosy bed within the Grand Crescent (or wherever they've now made their home) a few hours later. You can thank your servant for that.
JUMP TO TOP • JUMP TO COMMENTS
CW: large bodies of water, possible nudity
Unsurprisingly, it's hot in the forest, and the chances are that you didn't exactly come in here dressed for this.
While the dryads have made themselves at home on the land inside the Palm House, their naiad cousins (or water nymphs) have made themselves comfortable within the many rainforest pools. You can hear their delighted giggling as you traverse the forest and they will even call out to you in alluring tones, somehow knowing your name. It's impossible to resist following the sound and when you do you'll find yourself in front of one of the many pools that can be found within the Palm House.
Oddly, there is no sign of the naiads now that you're here. The water is beautifully crystal clear and dappled with the snatches of moonlight managing to shine through the forest canopy. That water is calling out to you, to drink and to bathe - you will feel an overwhelming compulsion to start removing your stuffy clothing, dive right in and cool down.
It's fine, after all, there's no one else around. Yet.
Just be care those pesky water nymphs don't hide your clothes.
JUMP TO TOP • JUMP TO COMMENTS
CW: sex, aphrodisiac, sex pollen, insects
It's not just nymphs and you lot making yourselves at home in the Palm House.
Often mistaken for moths, there's one species group of nocturnal butterflies, but their wings are dull, plain, and uninteresting. Clearly not a good fit for a glorious Palm House, designed by Pheme herself. That is precisely why Pheme has created her own, never before seen species of night butterfly, especially for this occasion.
Their wings are like gossamer, beautifully transparent like a ordinary glasswing butterfly but these ones glow in the dark. You probably encounter one or two as you make your way through the rainforest, but the longer you spend in here, the more the butterflies begin to swarm. Looking up and you'll see a "kaleidoscope" high above your heads, hundreds of them flocking together in a brightly glowing mass above the treeline. The display is only brief, but it leaves you with a strange yet probably not unfamiliar feeling.
You see, these butterflies have been carrying pollen on their bodies and legs, as butterflies often do, helping to spread the stuff. It seems whatever plant they have recently been feeding from has some very curious properties... and you can probably guess where this is going.
You feel hot - even more than you already did being stuck in a tropical forest. Not only that, you feel the strongest desire for physical intimacy. Effects vary depending on how much pollen you've been doused with, but you still have a deep, desperate need to do something about it. For those most strongly affected and desiring the ultimate, touching yourself may bring some relief. That may very well be your first thought to try, but some is the operative word here.
That person you've always had a flirtation with? Now is the time. You have to have them. You have to have each other. Or maybe you've just met this person, here, in the rainforest today? Maybe you're two people who ordinarily don't even like each other? Perhaps there's more than two of you?
It doesn't matter. You won't rest until you've gotten that release.Note: The butterflies swarm covers a wide enough area that you can be anywhere within the Palm House when their pollen hits. While this is obviously a sex pollen prompt, players can choose how strongly their characters have been affected. It may be that they only got the lightest dousing of pollen and kissing is enough to satisfy them. On the other hand, maybe they got so covered in the stuff that only doing the deed will do. The choice is yours.
JUMP TO TOP • JUMP TO COMMENTS
CW: chance for NSFW
So, you're not having much luck navigating your way out of this foliage filled nightmare? There is another way out. At some point on your travels, one of the naiads will take pity on you and try to help you out: "Find one of the wreaths!"
Deeper into the greenhouse, or this pseudo rainforest as it basically is, you'll find ancient Greek laurel wreaths made of pure gold. They might be just lying on the ground, or up a tree, or under the water in one of the forest pools... The choice is yours as to where you find it, We'll leave that entirely to your discretion.
It will take quite some doing given how far into the jungle these treasures are, but should you manage to find one, upon contact, it will teleport you, and whoever you might be holding onto, out of the greenhouse and right back to the entrance to the Pleasure Gardens again.
The wreaths won't be easy to find, and you'll face many obstacles along the way. Some set to distract you entirely from your goal, which is get the hell out of here. Unless you actually like it in here? You do you, boo. We're not judging.
The teleportation abilities of the wreaths themselves can only be activated by generating a small amount of Thumos between yourself and another first, another naiad will explain. That means no grabbing one for yourself and hightailing it out of here! Oh no, no, no. What about your chums? It would not be seemly to leave them in the lurch, after all.Note: Obviously more than one character can use one of these wreaths to teleport out of the Palm House, as long as each of you has a hand on the item and you have generated Thumos between all of you then it will work.
JUMP TO TOP • JUMP TO COMMENTS
Wildcard
To assist you with inspiration our full list of Andovale's locations can be found here.
Want to play something that isn't listed here? Go ahead!
no subject
[ His arms slipped around Eliot's waist, looking up into that profile. The memories were still strong, they had not gone back to the present time, to the present keys; had not been greeted by Margo-- there was no river of styx to absolve them of their memories. At the very least they had that, they had these memories still and they were beautiful; but he had been in love with Eliot even before those memories descended; he'd gone on the quest with the King of Fillory because he realized he'd do anything for him.
Perhaps he was a King himself, but he felt more like a Knight, perhaps he would get Eliot to knight him when they went back to wherever it was. But right now they were there with the bioluminescent butterflies fluttering about them.
Raining down soft cerulean glimmers that fell down down all the way down to the waters to light around them. ]
We will figure it out; from what I have gathered so far from the people I have met so far in this place. This wonderland is powered by Thumos and Thumos is generated through intimacy.
[ Margo would have said 'fucking' right off the bat, but Quentin knew that there were levels, levels of Thumos gain; one could gain small amounts by talking to people here within the strictures of society. ]
Also, I apologize for my previous disinterest in waistcoats.
[ This day alone, he'd probably seen like 15 of them ]
no subject
[The memories stung and flashed as love so deliberately painful it ached in every part of Eliot's body while he thought over his life with Quentin. His hands began to wander the body he knew in his sleep. Fingers crept over a dip here, and a shallow there. They mused over one of his sensitive spots, knowing that he could make his lover quiver and moan if he spent enough time brushing back and forth over and across his stomach and down his hip bone.
The magic of the butterflies wasn't needed, but it certainly set to light that which was already there. Eliot's mouth sought Quentin's neck as he spoke, scraping his teeth over the wet surface, licking up the little drops of water before he slowly began to mark the man as his with sucking bites. ]
Hmmmm. Thumos. It seems you've learned more than I have, but of course you would. who am I without you. I think we can figure out how to create intimacy between us.
[The yin to his yang, or visa versa, the other half to his soul, the other piece to his body, Q would always fit him perfect, and Eliot had known that from the start. It had taken what felt like an eternity for them to figure it out, but they had each other now, in youth and could live their lives once more in love. For this Eliot would slay any dragon, find any key, and go through a thousand deaths if he had to. ]
I'd love to see you in a waistcoat, but I still think this is better. [Eliot reached up and ran his fingers through Quentin's wet hair and pulled it back a bit roughly. ] Remember this. Remember who you will always belong to?
no subject
Half cry and half 'please don't stop'. What did it though was the way that Eliot's fingers buried in his silky locks of dirty blonde and tugged so that all Quentin could do was look up at Eliot, lips slightly parted as he expelled his breath.
There was arousal within that visage, but also gods was there devotion there too in those dark brown depths that had such unspeakable depths to them; he slipped his fingers upward and into those curls that were riotous, though his touch reverent.. his god right here and now. His tongue darted over his lower lip then and he settled the two of them so that they were bodies pressed together ]
I have missed you, Eliot; so much..
[ They had a full life but it had been so long since they had seen each other as they were now, just like this-- like they were back at Brakebills and they had not started on their key quest. The man who filled his dark sky with stars and his heart with hope, giving it something to beat for. ]
no subject
Now, he held the lithe and youthful body of the old man he knew and loved. The man who'd taken him apart and put him together, who'd eaten through his soul and wound himself so inexplicably tightly with Eliot that the old man, in this youthful body hardly knew what to do now that they were here struggling against the force of water to hold onto one another. Missing didn't do favor to how he felt. It was different altogether.
Eliot ran his fingers along Quentin's sides, and then down along his back, over the slope of his ass. He didn't need the glittering dust from the butterflies, but there was a heat that scored his body with a drilling need. It'd never stopped, but now it fought fiercesly against his rationale. Beating as steadily as the wings that dusted his limbs. ]
I have missed you too, my love, my soul. I need you though, I need you so fucking much. Now. It's as if this dust, this magic has given me no choice.
[Reaching around Quentin's lovely form, Eliot wrapped his fingers against the magician's dick, and wet his lips with a delightful grin as he touched his life partner's cock, pulling it into bloom, dragging it up and fully awake in his hand with a quiet moan. ]
Gods, I will never tired of touching you like this.
no subject
And gods he was weak to Eliot, to his presence so when palms that knew his body so intimately cupped at him, wrapping around his prick that throbbed underneath water, and lashes fell closed even as his lips parted-- a low and soft groan spilling from those blushed lips that stood out against pale skin.
The dust of butterflies had made it's mark on him and he'd attempted to wash it off, but now it was time to succumb to it with Eliot holding him, succumbing to Eliot's allure and knowing that he would want Eliot even without the dust, but the presence made it physically ache against his skin. ]
Yours, I was yours for so many years-- I am still yours.
[ and each word was coloured by the force of his love, as bright as the mosaic that they had built together, something that had become their lives. At yet was but one in the drop of many.
And he shifted to hook his leg against Eliot's side, as if that would prevent him from leaving him-- gods, he did not want this to be some fever dream.. he hoped it was not, that he would wake up and with no sign of Eliot ]
no subject
It truly did seem real though. The flesh that Eliot's hand clung to, holding Quentin up by his ass, and the other as it stroked awkwardly through water's ill-spoken lubrication. Why did it always have to be water. There was romance in it, always. What the magician needed now was a pillowed fortress and an endless supply of that which he could use to take his beloved over and over.
The details of it, Eliot was feeling far more polite than any fancy words that one might put into words. There was so much between them, and yearning didn't do to define what he wished to do, the places he wished for his tongue to explore, nor the ways in which Eliot had to taste his lover.
He struggled slightly, but moved them both to the steps, kissing, always kissing Quentin in between, for it would be death to stop that which he'd already begun. ] I ... I just need, water doesn't do for what I need.
no subject
It was not hard to move him toward the steps leading out of the pond, not hard to find a grassy bower to spread out underneath. In fact as he stepped out, he kept his mouth firmly on Eliot's, fingers digging into those veed hips and ever downward until they gripped flank. ]
Fuck, El.. you can have anything.. please, just as long as you don't go too far from me.
[ He leaned up then, pressing his body flush to Eliot's while his mouth sought Eliot's, tongue painfully hungry. This was the touch of a mate, of a life partner. This seemed to override every single lust-awkward moment they'd ever had for each other, metamorphizing it into something as beautiful as that of a butterfly bursting forth from coccoons.
Quentin knew that he was becoming a bit feral within his desire, it was in the rutting of his hips against a thigh, with the long and slender length that smeared both wet and precome on pale skin. ]
no subject
I'm not letting you go. I did that once, and no.. not again. Fuck no.
[Turning, Eliot lowered Quentin into the humid splints of greenery that cradled them. If only his magicks were enough to procure that which he needed from nothing. Bringing his lips back to Q's he supped and licked and pricked with his teeth until he could taste the copper of love that he'd bled from the other so many times before now.
It pained him that it would be like this now. Closing his eyes, Eliot reached down between them and rubbed his hand over Quentin's hard length, draping his fingers in the dripping need that coated his tip.]
Beloved, it's, this will hurt. You're a damn virgin again, but I can't hold myself from you for too long, and there's not ... damnit.
[The threesome had been the other way around, and now here he was without everything he needed, it was a needle beneath his skin that he would draw such pain from his love, even though he knew there was a part of the other that would crave the distorted need.]
no subject
[ He remembered times of coupling from a life previous; a life lived. Of many different ways and many different flavors; he remembered the feeling of being filled, Eliot's teeth against his neck, his own fingers scrapping up and down back. All of these memories came unbidden, and then before it-- he remembered a single union, one filled with such complications.
It felt like a renewal between them, this one. A cleansing of all that had come before; even before that he had been in love with Eliot, admired the older man and wanted him even when he shouldn't have wanted. And now here was Eliot kneeling between his spread thighs and his own groan but a mirrored to Eliot's. ]
Please do not worry about causing me pain, I promise that it'll be fine.. yeah.
[ He was kissing around that mouth, a bite to that lower lip-- frantic and hot, nearly greedy for it as if he had been starving his entire life. He wanted to be Eliot's personal whore; and perhaps in this world he'd seen many beautiful people but this right here was the only one that he could love.
Spreading his thighs then as he was pressed back into verdant green, hot stuttered breathing fell from his lips as he encased his legs right against Eliot's thighs, as if the other man was a picture frame. ]
I do not need care, I need to be claimed by you.
no subject
Using the slick from his lover's own body, Eliot began to open him slowly, one digit at a time. He pressed a slow finger inward through overly tight muscles. They clung to him with reminders of a night so long ago, on warm tiles beneath a setting sun. Pulling and pushing, Quentin's body welcomed and refused him all at once. The elder magician groaned against the natural feeling.
Once he'd found a way through, he pulled back and pushed inward, hooking his finger slightly. It wasn't the best, easiest thing. He knew there'd be pain, sharp and real, but he tried to do all that he could, knowing this body as an extension of his own, Eliot played it with his finger, slowly expanding the entrance while his mouth did its best to distract, a noble contract of tongue and teeth over an architect's finest designs of hipbones, and long expanses on white pale abdomen. Gods he loved this man.]
There is no world in which I will not have you, where you won't be mine. None, I will always find you Quentin.
no subject
A rough little groan of pleasure as he hooked his leg just over Eliot's shoulder and continued that undulation; his stomach concaving with each movement-- allowing himself to respond to Eliot like the tides of the moon as they ebbed and pulled against gravity and time.
He reached up to curl his fingers into those locks of curls, slightly damp and losing their artful arrangements; though he'd always loved Eliot in all forms; but refined and wild-- knowing that they were two parts of the whole. ]
Yours.. mmmm..
[ against pale hip, his cock twitched-- with every soft contact of lips anywhere but against it and he was fine with the carefully crafted edging, the way that his body singed; he liked it drawn out.. he enjoyed it when Eliot took his time and pushed him beyond his limits. He could endure much, he could withstand the storm and torrents of Eliot's body and in turn he could storm as well.. as forcefully and as temptuously as Eliot did ]
no subject
He was suddenly hyper aware of how lucky he, Eliot was that it was him that stumbled upon Quentin here in this dewy little spot instead of another. The way the butterflies cast their fairy dust around for all to succumb to, it could have easily have been any other taking Quentin's first time once more. It would have shattered Eliot to have lost that moment between them.
It made the steps between them now, even more hallowed. He almost thanked the Lady for this while he slipped his finger along slick muscled walls, working it with a knowledge of body and mind. Pinning the finger this way and that, Eliot opened his beloved with two fingers and then a triangle of them, taking the storm passed from his lover's body and quelling it within the harbor of his own until they were able to be come two in one. ]
Fuck. Finally. [He sighed, and moved himself over Quentin's damp body, lapping at the valley's of his hips, sucking up pools of salty water to quench his thirst on his way to finding the source of his truest salvation and where he found the source of his soul, the heart that beat within his body when their lips met once more. ]